


Love You to the Core

by Jules (thirstyfordjoos)



Category: Men's Hockey RPF, Women's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe- Not Hockey Players, Friends to Lovers, Gen, M/M, dumb boys, they all work at a nuclear power plant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:55:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21981766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thirstyfordjoos/pseuds/Jules
Summary: If your name is mentioned in the tags or you know anyone who is mentioned in the tags, turn away now. This is a complete work of fiction.Here's what y'all need to know about this. My nerdy ass decided to write a nuclear power plant AU where each division in the NHL is a plant and each team is a shift of operators. Various women's hockey players, retired players, and coaches make appearances as engineers or other plant personnel. This is gonna be a wild ride with technical details (that I intentionally made a little bit vague cuz ya know that whole security thing) that you probably won't care about.
Relationships: J. T. Compher/Tyson Jost
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8





	Love You to the Core

**Author's Note:**

> Some little notes to get you started. Most powerplants (nuclear, coal, natural gas) work on shift work for the operators since they are constantly running. This consists of 4 days, 3 days off, 4 nights 3 days off, 3 days (usually a weekend), 4 days off, and then 3 nights (weekend) and 4 days off. After this rotation, there is a week for training and sometimes a week of vacation depending on the company. 
> 
> Many people make a nuclear power plant run, including engineering, maintenance, radiation protection, and the ones I focus on the most in this story operations. Operations is a hierarchy. Equipment operators (EOs) are the people who go out into the plant, take readings, and manipulate components according to many, many procedures. They go through about a year of training but for the story that's a little handwavy. Reactor operators (ROs) are the button pushers. They usually have to start as equipment operators, then go to more training, and then become reactor operators. Then you have Senior Reactor Operators (SROs) who are the supervisors. They rotate between the control room (CRSs), work control, and floor. They supervise the ROs and EOs. They can either come from an engineering background, have moved up the ranks from RO, or if an EO is a college graduate in a technical field, they can move directly to SRO. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) which is the regulating body for US Nuclear Reactors, requires that SROs train for 18 months to obtain a license. This includes learning every system in the plant and then learning on the simulator. In the end, they must pass a comprehensive test. 
> 
> The type of reactor this is loosely based off of is a Boiling Water Reactor. The US department of energy has great information on how those operate if you're interested enough to check it out. The principle is like most other power plants. Water is boiled to create steam, which turns a turbine, which is connected to a generator that makes electricity through some sort of electrical magic that I don't understand. Nuclear energy is carbon-free and creates large amounts of electricity. The waste is stored on-site in either a pool of water to cool or, after a few years, in these concrete, metal-lined cans that can survive insane conditions. Look up nuclear cask train crash. You won't be disappointed with how insane these things are. 
> 
> Also if you have any questions, drop a comment! I'd be happy to answer to the best of my ability. This is my area of study and expertise so as you can guess I'm pretty enthusiastic about it. Even if you aren't really that into nuclear energy I understand, I just hope you enjoy the story and can see the parallels with team environments. Anyway please enjoy it!

When Gabe walked into the control room meeting room, he already knew it would be an exhausting day. It was 5:30 am and he was going to do turnover with the previous shift manager. It was Jamie Benn’s shift if he wasn't mistaken. He could tell walking across the turbine deck this morning that it would be a long day. 

“Jamie,” Gabe greeted walking into the office he would soon be occupying for the day. “How was the night shift?”

“Good,” he replied tiredly. Gabe knew that Jamie was on the point in the shift rotation where he was so close to his training week and then a week off. “All systems seem to be in stable condition. We’re still monitoring the turbine cooling system for a high-temperature alert that came in at about 22:45 last night. One of the engineers should have recommendations for you at some point during this shift. I believe her name is Amanda. We called her last night around 23:00 to tell her about the alarm and she should be in by 06:30 and have a recommendation at some point.”

“Perfect,” Gabe replied with as much enthusiasm as he could muster with only one cup of coffee in his system. “What’s her extension?”

“9562, but it's also written on the sticky note on the desk.”

“Let’s go ahead and get this turn over on the road.” 

Gabe’s shift all met with Jamie’s shift in their respective areas of the control room. 

Colin would be the unit 1 RO which would be good as it would be preparing for a recirculation pump uprate in preparation for the refueling outage this September. Colin was traded to the Avalanche shift after the Predators shift was preparing for a new non-licensed operator to join them. It would offer a promotion anyway. While Colin loved being out in the plant manipulating components, he really couldn’t wait to be off the floor in the brutal summer heat. Being a reactor operator was a big step in his career, as well as a significant pay raise. It was his first outage as an RO. It would be nice to see a different side of the outage finally. 

Ian was unit 2 RO for the shift. Unit 2 was running fairly steady for the past several months. However, several relays were being tested by the Instrumentation and Controls Maintenance team today. Ian would have to sign off on the work before it was completed and after it was done. There were no signs that anything out of the ordinary would occur, however, things could come up on the 12-hour shift. 

Matt Calvert was in charge of the Balance of Plant systems today and Matt Nieto was the floater rounding out the Reactor Operators on the shift. It was a good thing Calvert was in the control room today, as one of the college interns would be doing a shadowing experience with operations for the next few days. Calvert was like everyone’s dad. He loved to mentor and inspire the next generation. 

Nate was the Work Execution Coordinator today, so he would be in the WEC office today. He would be working with the engineer, Amanda, on the turbine cooling water system. 

EJ was the control room supervisor on unit 1. He would be assisting Colin in upping the recirculation pump speed. EJ was one of the most experienced supervisors in the shift. He had spent some time at college, and moved his way up from Equipment Operator, all the way up to his current position of Senior Reactor Operator who served as a control room supervisor. 

Z was the SRO on Unit 2 today. He had an interesting road, to say the least. The Russian nuclear engineer defected to America after refusing to create weapons for the Russian Military. Despite his humor and good-natured teasing, he was an extremely intelligent supervisor who knew the reactor system like the back of his hand. The Avalanche shift was lucky to have his expertise and perspective. 

Grubi was the floor supervisor today. He was in charge of supervising all the equipment operators out in the plant. The EOs were a relatively young bunch, Naz being the most experienced who had transferred from the Atlantic Shores Nuclear Power Plant. Andre had also recently transferred, however, he came from the Metropolitan Nuclear Generating Station and Jonas transferred from Pacific Hills Nuclear Power Plant. Val had switched from the Stars shift. Cale was a relatively new hire. He was one of the college people along with Josty and JT. Frankie had just finished his training and was starting with the shift as well. 

JT and his family were highly intertwined into the running of the powerplant. His sister Morgan worked in HR and his other sister Jesse was interning with the systems engineering department. Jesse was shadowing with the operations department today and it would probably fall to him to take her on rounds. He would try to get Josty to do it but Josty was, well Josty.

___

Gabe sat down at the head of the table in the control room conference room ready to begin the morning meeting. Nate sat on his right and Grubi sat on his left. Nate started the conference with the operators and supervisors in the control room. The EOs sat leisurely around the table, coffee in hand, chatting quietly with each other. Jesse, the college intern, sat somewhat nervously in the corner of the room, trying to ignore the faces her brother and Josty were making at her. 

“Good morning everyone,” Gabe began with authority in his voice. “Let’s get started with our safety topic of the day, brought to you by Z on Unit 2. Take it away Z.”

“Yes, good morning,” Z lamented in his accented English. “The safety topic today is pinch points. You want to make sure you don’t put your hands, feet, or any other body part in anything that could pinch you. This means no reaching back and trying to grab doors. Also, be aware of the pinch points on any tools you may use.”

“Thank you, Z,” Gabe replied way too cheerily for as early as it was. “Let’s go to EJ with the precision topic of the day.”

“Alright,” started EJ. “The work execution topic of the day is independent verification. You need to make sure that if you are performing a task that requires independent verification, you are using a verifier who was not involved when you were performing the initial action to verify your work.”

“Thank you, EJ,” Gabe continued. “Before we move on, I want everyone to welcome one of the college interns from engineering, Jesse Compher. Yes, she is related to JT. But we are so glad to have her joining us for the next two days. Jesse, do you wanna tell us a little about yourself.”

“Sure,” Jesse beamed. “I’m Jesse, I’m a student at Boston University and I am interning in the systems engineering department. I wanted to see what all the hype with OPs is since JT always tells me how fun it is. Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to learn a lot.”

“Thank you, Jesse,” said Gabe. “Please, everyone, make Jesse feel welcome. Try to help her learn as much as she can while she’s here. And JT, why don’t you take her on your rounds.”

“Of course,” JT replied tiredly. 

“Alrighty, let’s move on to the plant status,” Gabe chirped. “Colin, start us off with Unit 1.”

“Thanks, Gabe. Unit 1 is at 99.6% power, 3500MW thermal. We’re planning to increase the recirculation pumps as we begin the end of the cycle.”

“Thank you, Colin,” Gabe replied jotting down some notes on his clipboard. “Ian, follow us up with unit 2.”

“Good morning. Unit 2 is at 100% power, 3504 MW thermal. We are expecting some maintenance on the relay system this afternoon but other than that there are no anticipated actions.”

“And Calvert,” Gabe said as he checked off something on his clipboard. “Update us on Balance of Plant.”

“Yes,” Matt replied. “Both turbines seem to be operating normally. Generators are outputting approximately 1600 MW each. The turbine cooling water is a priority today so any outcomes from that please let me know.”

“Alrighty,” Gabe said looking up from his clipboard cheerfully. “There are no fire-watches today so that's good. Grubi assigned the EOs rounds today, so that should be all good to go. Please see the reactor operator in charge of your area for the checklist and forms. Other than that let’s make it a safe, wonderful day.”

**Author's Note:**

> Oh another note, since I am currently in college this might be updated sporadically when I have time. I'll try to update as much as I can while I'm on a break but please be patient! And please, if you have questions I would love to try and answer them.


End file.
